I know they could be shrunk as fairies, but when playing the peasant women...you truly need short, small women. Kathy Bates is not that is she?

Her IMDB bio lists her as being 5'3", which I wouldn't consider to be very tall. She's not a thin woman by any means, but Merryweather is the biggest of the three fairies. She would likely look appropriate next to any of the actresses mentioned so far for the others.

And Alice in Wonderland! There was loads of size adjustment in that movie.

The names mentioned for the Good Fairies (some where above) would make great castings! I really hope Disney hires older actresses to play them! I think Angela Lansbury, Julie Andrews would be great names.
I would love some one like Emma Stone to play Aurora, I think she would be a far more appealing choice than Fanning who seems far to young to play Princess Aurora!

_________________All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. - Walt Disney

Thoughts on casting/characters (spoilers): The idea of Maleficent having a lover initially comes off as a bit odd, but if handled correctly, could actually be amazing. Imagine if in a jealous and selfish rage, she transformed him into the raven, that's just golden! Having King Stefan as half-fairy is interesting as well, I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays into the story. The addition of Patrick Stewart and Dame Judi Dench/Emma Thompson as seemingly new characters is exciting as well, all three being very distinguished actors that will bring a lot of prestige to the project.

Can't to hear more news and eventually see some images![/url]

So, King Stefan is actually a fairy? Hmmm, as long as they don't change him too much, i'm okay with that. Yeah, I would love the raven to actually be her true love. that'd be cute actually

The Walt Disney Studios has announced a U.S. release date of March 14, 2014, for Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie in the title role as Disney’s ultimate villain. The live-action film explores the origins of the evil fairy Maleficent and what led her to curse Princess Aurora in Disney’s animated classic Sleeping Beauty. Leading a team of visionary filmmakers known for creating and transporting audiences to new and exciting worlds, Academy Award®-winning production designer Robert Stromberg (Avatar, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful) will direct with a script by Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Alice in Wonderland). Maleficent is produced by Joe Roth (Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful).

The Walt Disney Studios has announced a U.S. release date of March 14, 2014, for Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie in the title role as Disney’s ultimate villain. The live-action film explores the origins of the evil fairy Maleficent and what led her to curse Princess Aurora in Disney’s animated classic Sleeping Beauty. Leading a team of visionary filmmakers known for creating and transporting audiences to new and exciting worlds, Academy Award®-winning production designer Robert Stromberg (Avatar, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful) will direct with a script by Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Alice in Wonderland). Maleficent is produced by Joe Roth (Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful).

It's too bad this is so far off; I'm actually getting excited to see this, though I've never been a huge SB or Maleficent fan. It's too bad they won't go crazy with the special effects a la Alice in Wonderland.

It's too bad this is so far off; I'm actually getting excited to see this, though I've never been a huge SB or Maleficent fan. It's too bad they won't go crazy with the special effects a la Alice in Wonderland.

You mean because reportedly they aren't going to use as big a budget? I can kind of understand why since it will be set in a more "real" environment with real sets probably instead of everything constructed in CGI like in Alice. I would think the special effects of magic and fairies and dragons would still be crazy cool.

Or go off at more of a different angle, and have Sleeping Beauty the Disney Classic as a distant related cousin ?

I would imagine that they'll have to take a few liberties with the story of the film in order to make this new interpretation work. If you look at "Wicked", a similar "story-behind-a-villain" adaptation, you'll notice that the Elphaba presented in the musical is nothing like the evil, cackling, one-dimensional villain in the film, even in the scenes in which the musical and movie cross-over.

The villain played by Margaret Hamilton and the character portrayed on stage all over the world are just too different, and even if we are to believe that she had a motivation for the bad things she did, the villain we see in the film just couldn't line up with the character that the musical wants us to believe she is.

It's an issue I think always occurs with these "villain's-backstory" re-imaginings. I read a Disney-published novel by an author who I think is called Sophie Valentino (although I may be mistaken, I can't remember), the novel was named "Fairest of All: A tale of a Wicked Queen" and told the story of the Queen from Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves". The novel, while alluding to and featuring many of the events from the film, just didn't line up with the material it took inspiration from.

I'm not saying it's entirely a bad thing, but it's sometimes necessary to veer away somewhat from the source material when trying to tell the same story from a different point of view.

Sometimes you can say that there's a "real story" that the movie did a different version of, or you can say that a movie or musical is a different interpretation/version of the same story and characters, so costumes look different and dialogue was changed along with the character portrayal.

Anyway, since this is called Maleficent, it is definately specifically Disney's Sleeping Beauty world, story, and characters, if that was your question atlanticaunderthesea. It just may tell the story differently, Maleficent's costume may look a little different, etc.

It's too bad this is so far off; I'm actually getting excited to see this, though I've never been a huge SB or Maleficent fan. It's too bad they won't go crazy with the special effects a la Alice in Wonderland.

You mean because reportedly they aren't going to use as big a budget? I can kind of understand why since it will be set in a more "real" environment with real sets probably instead of everything constructed in CGI like in Alice. I would think the special effects of magic and fairies and dragons would still be crazy cool.

I could imagine a lot of films may have their budgets reduced somewhat after the whole John Carter debacle, which seemed to go completely over-budget regardless of its success (or lack thereof). In any case, Sleeping Beauty does contain far more human characters than, say, Alice in Wonderland.

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